Filippi switches and goes quickest

Experienced Italian Luca Filippi blew the AUTOGP field away in todays 2nd session as he was the only driver to go under the 1'33 mark and finished over 0.5s clear of the field.
The 3 hour afternoon session saw Filippi change from the TP Formula team, in which he was 3rd this morning (see article Venturi leads the way) and go to SupernovaRacing. Chris Van Der Drift came in to take over Filippi's vacated seat.

Bruno Mendez was first out and went on a 7 lap run and set the benchmark with a best time of 1.35.91.
With an hour and a quarter complete Luca Filippi was the only driver yet to set a time as the Supernova Racing team were adjusting the car to his settings from Adrian Zaugg, who didnt take part in this session. At this point Giovanni Venturini was quickest on a 1'33"79, half a secnd clear of Fabrizio Crestani closely followed by Adrian Tambay, all 3 of these drivers had completed just 1 run of 6/7 laps.

Brit Jon Lancaster took over top spot going just over 0.1s faster than the Italian on his 16th lap with an hour to go. As Samele Buttarelli brought the red flags out with 40 minutes to go, the top 5 order stood at Lancaster, Venturini Crestani, Tambay and Kevin Ceccon, all of them less than 9 tenths behind Lancaster.

With half hour remaining Filippi came out and was first to go under 1'33. On his second run of the session the Italian lapped the Catalan circuit in 1'32"67, a full second quicker than Lancaster.
Kevin Ceccon shot up the order to 2nd with time running out but Fabio Onidi brought out the red flag with a few minutes remaining meaning the session was cut short thus preventing anybody else from improving.


1. Luca Filippi - Supernova 1'32"67
2. Kevin Ceccon - Ombra Racing +0.53
3. Giovanni Venturini - Durango +0.86
4. Jon Lancaster - Campos +0.94
5. Adrien Tambay - DAMS +1.01
6. Rio Haryanto - DAMS +1.53
7. Fabrizio Crestani - Lazarus +
8. Marco Barba - Campos +1.81
9. Fabio Onidi - Lazarus +1.87
10. Bruno Mendez - Supernova Racing +1.97
11. Samuele Buttarelli - Ombra Racing +2.35
12. Chris Van Der Drift - TP Formula +2.45
13. Sergei Afanasiev - DAMS +2.45
14. Giuseppe Ciprani - Durango +4.31

Auto GP morning session: Venturi leads the way.

Barcelona was the location for todays first official Auto GP collective test of the season, Giovanni Venturi lapped the 4.655km Catalan circuit quickest of all with a time of 1'33"14.
Ex A1 racer Adrian Zaug was the first to go under 1'35 after 40 minutes and in doing so was 0.9s quicker than anyone else after completing similar number of laps to the rest of the field.
With half an hour remainng Venturi took over top spot going a further 1.2 seconds quicker than Zaugg. Splitting the 2 moments later was experienced Itallian Luca Filippi (1'33"85)
In the last few minutes South African Zaugg went out for one final run, improved his time and moved upto P2.
Classifications for the rest of todays sessions to follow.

1. Giovanni Venturi - Durango 1'33"14
2. Adrian Zaugg - Supernova Racing +0.28
3. Luca Filippi - TP Formula +0.50
4. Marco Barba - Campos +0.52
5. Fabrizio Crestani - Lazarus +0.88
6. Adrien Tambay - DAMS +1.03
7. Fabio Onidi - Lazarus +1.42
8. Jon Lancaster - Campos +1.86
9. Sergei Afanasiev - DAMS +1.99
10. Rio Haryanto - DAMS +2.05
11. Kevin Ceccon - Ombra Racing +2.83
12. Samuele Buttarelli - Ombra Racing +4.61
13. Giuseppe Ciprani - Durango +6.38

F3 final session: Huertas on top.

Carlin driver Carlos Huertas finished todays British Formula 3 session atop the classifications with a time of 1'28"20 closely followed by Pietro Fantin, Pipo Derani, 2nd session leader Rupert Svendson-Cook and Felipe Nasr, who, even though in 5th place, was just 0.19s slower than Huertas.

Fastest session of the day was posted by Scott Pye in this mornings first session see article: Pye quickest in session 1

1. Carlos Huertas (Dallara-Volkswagen) – Carlin 1'28"20
2. Pietro Fantin (Dallara-Volkswagen) – Hitech +0.12
3. Pipo Derani (Dallara-Mercedes) – Double R +0.13
4. Rupert Svendsen-Cook (Dallara-Volkswagen) +0.17
5. Felipe Nasr (Dallara-Volkswagen) – Carlin +0.19
6. Scott Pye (Dallara-Mercedes) – Double R +0.22
7. Menasheh Idafar (Dallara-Volkswagen) – T Sport +0.23
8. Lucas Foresti (Dallara-Mercedes) – Fortec +0.43
9. Harry Tincknell (Dallara-Mercedes) – Fortec +0.49
10. Hywell Lloyd (Dallara-Mercedes) – Sino Vision +0.56
11. Rikki Christodoulou (Dallara-Volkswagen) – Hitech +0.69
12. William Buller (Dallara-Mercedes) – Fortec +0.75
13. Kevin Magnussen (Dallara-Volkswagen) – Carlin +0.78
14. Jazeman Jaafar (Dallara-Volkswagen) – Carlin +0.91
15. Jack Harvey (Dallara-Volkswagen) – Carlin +0.98
16. Yann Cunha (Dallara-Volkswagen) – T Sport +1.82
17. Bart Hylkema (Dallara-Mugen) – T Sport +2.41
18. Kotaru Sakurai (Dallara-Mugen) – Hitech +3.67

Svendson-Cook leaves it late in session 2

Session 2 today saw Rupert Svensn-Cook finish quickest as he lapped the Oulton park circuit with a laptime of 1'28"33
Felipe Nasr was quickest untill 5 minutes to go when Carlin driver Svenson-Cook on his 17th lap of the session went 0.17s quicker than the Brazilian. Nasr recovered from a slow start in this morning s session where, as reported in Pye quickest in session 1, he was classified 7th just over a secod quicker than Scott Pye.

There is one more session to come later this afternoon, results will be here later.


1. Rupert Svendsen-Cook (Dallara-Volkswagen) 1'28"33
2. Felipe Nasr (Dallara-Volkswagen) – Carlin +0.17
3. Pipo Derani (Dallara-Mercedes) – Double R +0.32
4. Menasheh Idafar (Dallara-Volkswagen) – T Sport +0.32
5. Scott Pye (Dallara-Mercedes) – Double R +0.39
6. Carlos Huertas (Dallara-Volkswagen) – Carlin +0.46
7. Hywell Lloyd (Dallara-Mercedes) – Sino Vision +0.78
8. Harry Tincknell (Dallara-Mercedes) – Fortec +0.48
9. Lucas Foresti (Dallara-Mercedes) – Fortec +1.00
10. Kevin Magnussen (Dallara-Volkswagen) – Carlin +1.00
11. Rikki Christodoulou (Dallara-Volkswagen) – Hitech +1.00
12. Pietro Fantin (Dallara-Volkswagen) – Hitech +1.17
13. William Buller (Dallara-Mercedes) – Fortec +1.29
14. Jack Harvey (Dallara-Volkswagen) – Carlin +1.56
15. Jazeman Jaafar (Dallara-Volkswagen) – Carlin +1.72
16. Yann Cunha (Dallara-Volkswagen) – T Sport +1.72
17. Bart Hylkema (Dallara-Mugen) – T Sport +2.48   (n)
18. Adderly Fong (Dallara-Mercedes) – Sino Vision +3.78

Pye quickest in F3 session 1 at Oulton

Session 1 at Oulton park this morning saw Aussie Scott Pye finish top of the order showing the field the way.
Pye completed 33 laps on his way to a best time of 1'27"62. The Double R driver will be looking to continue this good form in the days remaining 2 sessions. Results to follow.


1. Scott Pye (Dallara-Mercedes) – Double R 1'27"62
2. Menasheh Idafar (Dallara-Volkswagen) – T Sport +0.36
3. Carlos Huertas (Dallara-Volkswagen) – Carlin +0.47
4. Kevin Magnussen (Dallara-Volkswagen) – Carlin +0.86
5. Rupert Svendsen-Cook (Dallara-Volkswagen) – Carlin +0.88
6. Rikki Christodoulou (Dallara-Volkswagen) – Hitech +1.09
7. Felipe Nasr (Dallara-Volkswagen) – Carlin +1.11
8. Jack Harvey (Dallara-Volkswagen) – Carlin +1.51
9. Pietro Fantin (Dallara-Volkswagen) – Hitech +1.81
10. Adderly Fong (Dallara-Mercedes) – Sino Vision +1.88
11. Pipo Derani (Dallara-Mercedes) – Double R +1.93
12. Hywell Lloyd (Dallara-Mercedes) – Sino Vision +2.17
13. Yann Cunha (Dallara-Volkswagen) – T Sport +2.18
14. Harry Tincknell (Dallara-Mercedes) – Fortec +2.30
15. Lucas Foresti (Dallara-Mercedes) – Fortec +2.93
16. William Buller (Dallara-Mercedes) – Fortec +3.20
17. Bart Hylkema (Dallara-Mugen) – T Sport +3.70   (n)
18. Kotaru Sakurai (Dallara-Mugen) – Hitech +4.15   (n)
19. Jazeman Jaafar (Dallara-Volkswagen) – Carlin +4.92

(n) - national class

Team E Racing sign Miller

Team E Racing has today confirmed that American Joel Miller will be driving one of their cars at the first round of the Indylights series this weekend on the streets of St. Petersberg.

Miller who competed in just 2 Indylights events in 2010 will line up alongside 12 other hopefulls who are already confirmed for the season opener. The event gets underway with a 45 minute open test 25th march and qualifying for Sundays 10.30am race will be on Saturday afternoon.

Miller spoke of his joy at confirming the deal "I have not given up all winter in trying to make the grid at St Pete,” Miller went on to say “There were definitely some disappointments when previous negotiated deals did not materialize, but when Neil came to me regarding St Pete, I put that all behind me and focused on making this deal happen. I have to thank the combined efforts of Neil Enerson, the people at the Skip Barber Racing School, as well as all the other smaller supporters that made this coming weekend a possibility. I cannot wait to get to Florida and begin working with the team and putting the car on the front row.”


Results from St. Pete will be published as soon as they happen.

Melker quickest on day 2.

In todays Formula 3 Euroseries test at the Circuit de Catalunya grand prix track, Dutch driver Nigel Melker finished with the quickest time of the day, and quickest of the 2 days sessions, (1'38"25) which was set in this mornings session. The session this afternoon saw Spaniard Roberto Merhi on top of the pile but as with all of the other drivers, his time set this morning was to be his fastest of the day.

Morning session:

1. Nigel Melker - Mucke Motorsport 1'38"25
2. Marco Wittmann - Signature +0.03
3. Kimiya Sato - Motopark Academy +0.23
4. Roberto Merhi - Prema Powerteam +0.32
5. Laurens Vanthoor - Signature +0.56
6. Daniel Juncadella - Prema Powerteam +0.61
7. Gianmarco Raimondo - Motopark Academy +0.71
8. Kuba Giermaziak - Motopark Academy +0.65
9. Felix Rosenqvist - Mucke Motorsport +0.73
10. Jimmy Eriksoon - Motopark Academy +0.68
11. Carlos MUnoz - Signature +1.04
12. Daniel Abt - Signature +1.15



Afternoon session:

1. Roberto Merhi - Prema Powerteam 1'39"02
2. Nigel Melker - Mucke Motorsport +0.06
3. Felix Rosenqvist - Mucke Motorsport +0.19
4. Daniel Juncadella - Prema Powerteam +0.38
5. Daniel Abt - Signature +0.72
6. Gianmarco Raimondo - Motopark Academy +0.73
7. Carlos MUnoz - Signature +0.79
8. Jimmy Eriksoon - Motopark Academy +0.82
9. Kuba Giermaziak - Motopark Academy +1.14
10. Marco Wittmann - Signature +1.68
11. Kimiya Sato - Motopark Academy +1.71
12. Laurens Vanthoor - Signature +1.91